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On 26 August, fourteen young farmers were awarded certificates in “Cooperative Governance and Strategy” after completing an eighteen-month Paris-Dauphine University course developed in conjunction with Axereal cooperative group. This initiative demonstrates Axereal’s focus on involving the next generation in the future of agriculture and in their cooperative.
This new generation has now developed a global approach.
The winds of change are blowing through agriculture and the cooperative model. The playing field is now global, the rules are changing and it is vital to adapt. This is why Axereal wants to be more proactive in developing the skills of its young members, who are the cooperative’s local and global leaders of the future. “To be a farmer today, you have to be far more open to the world around you. To make decisions on a farm, and also on behalf of collective bodies such as cooperatives, farmers require an ever-wider knowledge of agronomy, manufacturing and geopolitics. If we are to keep the cooperative model in which we firmly believe sustainable long-term, we need to support these young people so that they are ready in the future to take over responsibility for the group and continue to develop it,” explained Jean-François Loiseau, Axereal Chairman.
A broad-ranging vision built up thanks to in-person lectures, e-learning and a field trip.
The students spent one or two days per month at the university, completing the rest of their studies remotely from home. They also took part in a field trip to Argentina, a strategic location for the group’s malt business. They developed skills in a wide range of areas including top-level strategy, financial and legal issues facing cooperatives, international vision of agricultural and food markets, and corporate social responsibility considerations. “Paris Dauphine University has made supporting economic players a strategic element of its development, by offering them modules designed to develop their staff’s skills. Today, the agricultural industry holds the keys to the geopolitical challenges facing our planet, and it is in the interests of a cooperative such as Axereal to secure its governance long-term by helping a new generation of farmers to understand how the world is changing,” said Sébastien Duizabo, Executive Education Director at Paris-Dauphine University-PSL. “We are delighted that the fourteen students from this first cohort rounded off their course in such an impressive way on 26 August, when each of them presented a foresight analysis on their sector, sparking fascinating discussions with the audience. All the course graduates are already advisors within Axereal’s local governance structures, and will undoubtedly be among its future administrators. Their vision will be crucial to our future decision-making processes, and a second cohort of the course will be formed very soon,” concluded Sophie Tuja, Axereal’s Communication and Human Resources Director.
The farmers who received their certificates as part of the first cohort were:
Adrien Butour (Précy – 18), Nicolas Chevrier (Céré-la-Ronde – 37), Flavie Delattre (Jargeau – 45), Xavier de Verneuil (Maillet – 36), Romain Gallas (Pierres – 28), Damien Lauverjat (Groises – 18), Thibault Lecomte (Farges-en-Septaine – 18), Valérie Leguereau (Villemardy – 41), Fabien May (Saint-Agnan-sur-Erre – 61), Baptiste Nault (Saint-Andelain – 58), Sébastien Peras (Ourouer les Bourdelins – 18), Benjamin Richer (Planty – 10), Julien Sarradin (Lutz-en-Dunois – 28), Damien Terrier (Terminiers – 28).
